In the field of Internet commerce, there are two major classifications of transactions. The first classification is business-to-consumer commerce, which typically involves a business selling its products or services to consumers over the Internet or other computer network. The other classification of electronic commerce is business-to-business commerce, which involves transactions between businesses.
Business-to-business electronic commerce transactions typically differ from business-to-consumer transactions in several significant respects. For example, in business-to-business transactions involving the sale of goods, it is common for a buyer to place orders periodically (e.g., once per month) for the same or a similar set of goods. In addition, each such order typically encompasses many different items, and relatively large quantities of such items. Further, in the course of a business-to-business transaction, it is common for the buyer and the seller to communicate with each other about the transaction.
It would be desirable to provide an electronic commerce system which accommodates these and other characteristics of business-to-business commerce.